A multiple fluid history recorded in Alpine ophiolites

Abstract

Petrographic and cathode luminescence studies of Alpine ophicalcites are combined with stable isotope data of pelagic sediments and associated ophiolite relicts, to document multiple phases of fluid-rock interaction related to sea-floor processes and Alpine orogeny. Internal sediments and primary carbonate microstructures in ophicalcites provide evidence for early sea-floor fragmentation, cementation and fluid activity in the Jurassic Tethys. Ca-carbonate cementation is comparable to cementation in modern transform setting analogues, where alkaline and Ca-enriched fluids are associated with serpentinites. Local mineralization and isotopic compositions of serpentine in ophicalcites are interpreted as signs of hydrothermal activity at temperatures of 100–150 °C. Differences in the degree of oxygen isotope re-equilibration reflect differences in fluid/rock interaction during Alpine accretionary tectonics and continent-continent collision. Regional-scale homogenization of oxygen isotopes in carbonates and cherts indicate the presence of pervasive metamorphic fluids in the pelagic sediments during early Alpine recrystallization. In contrast, a lack of oxygen isotope re-equilibration in serpentine may reflect lower permeabilities and more limited fluid flow in serpentinites during Alpine metamorphism. Cathode luminescence and preliminary oxygen isotope data of late vein-forming phases suggest that late metamorphic fluids were channelled along discrete brittle fractures in a closed, rock-dominated system.